Welcome to Windows 7 Forums. Our forum is dedicated to helping you find support and solutions for any problems regarding your Windows 7 PC be it Dell, HP, Acer, Asus or a custom build. We also provide an extensive Windows 7 tutorial section that covers a wide range of tips and tricks.

Windows 7: Best possible Free security setup

There are to many opinions on security regarding AV's. avast!, Comodo, Panda Cloud, and MSE will all do fine. MBAM and HitMan Pro are a must, regardless of which AV you chose.

What I haven't seen mentioned yet is also a must, and that is Norton DNS . It's free and makes any AV better by filtering out 30-40% of bad websites...........A no brainer.

Thanks for the info on the dns just what I was looking for. Can I still get your opinion on which AV you think is better?

Testing and trying AV's, be it final release or beta, free or paid, is sort of a hobby of mine. I test them all on a real XP x32 SP3 machine, so I don't do much protection tests for obvious reasons, but I get a real good feel for performance impacts on the machine, as well as real world user experience.

If I were going to use a free AV, it would be avast! & Comodo tied for 1st, with the edge going towards avast! because it's the lightest of all on the machine. After those two, I would go with Panda Cloud, then MSE. Panda has really good protection, but to get it, you have to use their URL filter and that comes with a toolbar, which I really don't like. You can either install the toolbar to get the URL filter, then after install, you can uninstall the toolbar via programs and features and leave the URL filter in tact, or you can choose to not install either, and just let the on-demand scanner do all the work. If you install Norton DNS, that is what I would do.

MSE comes in last for me because it uses the most RAM (65-90MG's) and I have seen to many tests in which it doesn't perform very well. I'm not saying that it's a bad choice, I'm just saying that there are better choices.

There are to many opinions on security regarding AV's. avast!, Comodo, Panda Cloud, and MSE will all do fine. MBAM and HitMan Pro are a must, regardless of which AV you chose.

What I haven't seen mentioned yet is also a must, and that is Norton DNS . It's free and makes any AV better by filtering out 30-40% of bad websites...........A no brainer.

Thanks for the info on the dns just what I was looking for. Can I still get your opinion on which AV you think is better?

Testing and trying AV's, be it final release or beta, free or paid, is sort of a hobby of mine. I test them all on a real XP x32 SP3 machine, so I don't do much protection tests for obvious reasons, but I get a real good feel for performance impacts on the machine, as well as real world user experience.

If I were going to use a free AV, it would be avast! & Comodo tied for 1st, with the edge going towards avast! because it's the lightest of all on the machine. After those two, I would go with Panda Cloud, then MSE. Panda has really good protection, but to get it, you have to use their URL filter and that comes with a toolbar, which I really don't like. You can either install the toolbar to get the URL filter, then after install, you can uninstall the toolbar via programs and features and leave the URL filter in tact, or you can choose to not install either, and just let the on-demand scanner do all the work. If you install Norton DNS, that is what I would do.

MSE comes in last for me because it uses the most RAM (65-90MG's) and I have seen to many tests in which it doesn't perform very well. I'm not saying that it's a bad choice, I'm just saying that there are better choices.

Thanks for this very detailed review. So comdo AV is actually good because I heard it wasn't.
In terms of protection and removal who do u think won avast or comodo?

Thanks for this very detailed review. So comdo AV is actually good because I heard it wasn't.
In terms of protection and removal who do u think won avast or comodo?

Well, protection and removal are both different creatures. AV's need to have great protection, and for removal/repair, that's what MBAM, HitMan Pro and SAS are for.

Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.

Thanks for this very detailed review. So comdo AV is actually good because I heard it wasn't.
In terms of protection and removal who do u think won avast or comodo?

Well, protection and removal are both different creatures. AV's need to have great protection, and for removal/repair, that's what MBAM, HitMan Pro and SAS are for.

Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.

Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.

+1

Yep I agree, I don't care if you use the best Antivirus software from AV comparatives, or listen to 1000 users who tell you what their favorite AV is, you can be using the best of the best AV and it still isn't going to protect you against all of the Zero Day Threats out their, and I guarantee that because I'm always seeing peoples posts as their wondering why they got a virus. This is why a Good HIPS, and virtualization software is needed, and Backup Images are Crucial!

Also, I should say that the two best layers of protection are system images and virtualization. You can use the on-board W7 system image maker, and do so at least twice per month depending on your computer usage. That way, if the worst happens and your AV lets you down, you can get back to a known good config in a matter of minutes.......Don't rely on the system restore alone.

+1

Yep I agree, I don't care if you use the best Antivirus software from AV comparatives, or listen to 1000 users who tell you what their favorite AV is, you can be using the best of the best AV and it still isn't going to protect you against all of the Zero Day Threats out their, and I guarantee that because I'm always seeing peoples posts as their wondering why they got a virus. This is why a Good HIPS, and virtualization software is needed, and Backup Images are Crucial!

Can you guys please explain to me what exacly HIPS is and how i can use it? I have no idea what it is or what it does.

Best possible Free security setup

FREE Taskbar for dual monitor setupI cannot find any good program to put taskbar onto my second monitor for free. The best I've found is Dual Monitor Taskbar, which doesn't look the best and refuses DPI-scaling. I've also seen the terrible looking Zbar. I've been using 30 day trials of UltraMon, Actual Multiple Monitors, and they...

Software

Best Free Security Setup?Hi, i'm looking to get a decent security setup for my PC. There's one catch, all the programs have to be free!
I need programs to run virus scans and give me complete protection against viruses and malware. I had a look around the forum and everyone has their own opinion on what the best setup...

System Security

What else should I add to my security setup?Right now I have:
avast! Free Antivirus
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Free
SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition
CCleaner (really not a security application)
What else do you guys recommend I use, or do I really not need anything else? I am using Windows 7 Firewall because I feel that's all I really...

System Security

Download Free Security Quick Security References from MAt Microsoft, security work focuses on more than simply bulletproofing the company’s own products, and has spanned into educating third-party professionals on the steps needed to secure their own software and environments. At the start of this week, the software giant made available the company’s...